Prince of Thieves
by chocolatecatsconfusion
Summary: [AU] In a land where magic exists but is forbidden by a corrupt monarchy; a group of rebels by the name of 'Fairy Tail' operate in the shadows in hopes of reinstating the rightful heir to the throne of Fiore. Lucy, on the run from her wicked step-mother, encounters the group along with their handsome, carefree leader; Natsu Dragneel. Will she flee or join the fight?
1. Prologue

**A/N: Hey friends, I'm back with a new fic. This is a short prologue to sorta test the waters and see what the response is. I've got the first official chapter written and ready to go but I won't be posting it unless this gets a decent response.**

* * *

"Lady Lucy, I beg of you, please reconsider this plan of yours."

The girl in question, Lucy Heartfilia, turned to her maid with a sombre smile. "I'm sorry Coco, but I won't reconsider. There is nothing left for me here. Surely you understand?"

The maid opened her mouth to protest but instead nodded solemnly.

Lucy understood her maid's concerns. Outside the walls of the Heartfilia estate lay a world she knew next to nothing about. Her father had only told her that great dangers lay in wait for a girl like her. That had been enough to keep her from venturing beyond the walls all these years.

However, now that her father had passed, she no longer felt obliged to obey the orders to stay. Her wicked step-mother had begun showing her true colours mere days before her father's death. Lucy could only imagine how much worse things would get if she stuck around.

"This house isn't the happy home it once was. With Papa now gone, that horrid woman and her two daughters will set out to make my life a living hell and I won't allow it." Lucy said with a firm stance. "I suggest you get to bed immediately before you're found up here. I would hate to get you in trouble and not be here to help."

"But my lady, when they see you've fled they'll come after you." Coco protested.

"Which is why I must leave now," Lucy explained. "So that I can get as far away from here as possible before they figure out I've left. Now please, Coco, leave before you get yourself into trouble."

"Okay my lady," The maid conceded, reaching into her pocket. "But before you leave, I must give you these." She pulled out a golden key ring with five gold keys and five silver keys. "Your father entrusted these keys to me before he died. He said this key ring belonged to your mother and that it was extremely important these keys do not fall into the wrong hands. Only you are meant to have them."

"He told me to give them to you when the time was right," Coco continued, placing the key ring in her mistress's outstretched palm. "And since you're leaving, I think that time is finally upon us."

Lucy gaped at the gift, admiring the soft gold and silver colours. "These belonged to my mother?"

"Yes," The maid smiled softly. "And your grandmother and your great-grandmother as well. These keys have been in your family for well over a century. You must do everything in your power to keep them safe."

"B-but what do they do?" Lucy asked, running a finger over one of the smooth gold keys. She could've sworn it glowed ever so subtly, but she shook her head knowing it was just her overtired mind playing tricks on her.

"I was never told the purpose of the zodiac keys," Coco admitted, bowing her head. "Master Jude took that information to the grave. I think he wishes for you to discover it on your own."

Lucy stilled at her words, "A-are they… _magic_?"

The two girls tensed at the taboo word. Lucy had whispered it but they still found themselves glancing around the room just in case.

"For your sake, I certainly hope not. The King does not show mercy to magic users." Coco whispered solemnly. "Your punishment for keeping an item like that hidden away would be..." The girl trailed off, refusing to say the word.

But Lucy knew it.

 _Death_.

The reason the wizard population in Ishgar had been dropping steadily over the last fifty years. The King was determined to wipe them out, and the death penalty was his way of doing it.

Well, that and his annual "Wizard Purge" event. Lucy had always found it disgusting how many people actually chose to take part in the King's event. Every year, thousands of men set off across the continent on the day in search of "outlaw" wizards hiding away from society. Their job was to capture them and bring them before the king, where they would either be tortured or slaughtered on the spot without a trial. If the wizards happened to be exceptionally powerful or considered 'useful' to the king, they were sedated and locked up in an anti-magic prison cell in the castles South Tower. Unfortunately, every year the men who set out on the barbaric hunt were successful and a good one hundred or so wizards perished. It was truly horrific.

Lucy managed a small smile despite her extreme unease. "I'm sure it's not a magical object."

The maid eyed the keys skeptically but said nothing.

Lucy tucked the key ring into the pocket of her dress and wrapped her travelling cloak around her, fastening the star shaped clasp. She then turned to her maid and gave her a big hug.

"Thank you Coco for all your help. I hope we meet again someday in better circumstances."

The young girl's lip quivered as she returned the hug, fighting the tears that threatened to fall. Despite being far above her in social rank, Lucy had been the closest thing she'd had to a big sister. Coco knew not many girls in her profession were as lucky as she was, working in such a warm, welcoming home. She would miss it greatly when Lucy left and Master Jude's horrid widow took over.

"I hope so too, Lady Lucy."

Lucy released the girl and smiled softly, "Just call me Lucy. I'd like to part ways as friends if that's okay with you."

The girl's lip quivered again, her vision beginning to blur from the tears forming. "Y-yes I'd like that. Good luck… Lucy. I hope we meet again someday."

"Thank you Coco, I'm sure we will."

Lucy offered the girl one last smile, then with a swish of her cloak she disappeared into the night.

* * *

 **A/N: Please review/favourite/follow :) I loooove reviews. They are my bread and butter!**

 **[Edit: This story is inspired by several different shows/books. The most prominent being: Robin Hood, Once Upon a Time, Cinderella and Tangled. I do not own any of these, nor do I own Fairy Tail. But I must give credit where credit is due. If I use material from any movie/show/book it will be credited in the Author's Note]**


	2. Into the Woods

**A/N: Thanks for the support on the Prologue guys. I know it wasn't very long so I hope this 5,000+ word chapter can make up for it :)**

* * *

After about an hour or so of walking, Lucy found herself approaching the East Forest. She was pleased to have made it this far without any interruptions. It meant that no one had noticed her absence yet, which meant she had extra time to plan out her next move. She was glad she had made the decision to flee under the cover of nightfall. It definitely gave her the time she needed to escape the clutches of her step-mother and her henchmen – who would surely come after her when they found out she'd made a break for it.

It was hard not to question that decision though as she got a good look at what lay ahead of her – large, dark, ominous trees loomed above her and stretched for miles upwards into the night sky.

As she began her trek into the forest, she felt whatever brave thoughts she had had before begin to dissipate and her father's warnings from back in the day began to echo in her mind.  
 _  
"A girl of your upbringing wouldn't last more than a day in that forest."_

 _"I've been told that's where bandits hide out. It's not safe there."_

Ah right. She had almost forgotten about the bandits that targeted rich folk and women. Both of which she happened to be.

"Nice work Lucy," she muttered under her breath, cursing herself for not taking clothes from the servant's quarters. "Mom and dad are probably rolling around in their graves right no–"

 _Crack._

It was faint, but she heard it; the sound of a twig breaking up ahead.

Lucy froze in her tracks, willing herself not to panic. For all she knew it could be a friendly little bunny or an Exceed.

 _Don't be stupid,_ she admonished herself silently. _Exceeds have been extinct for years._

Another crack sounded – this time much closer to where she stood and she felt a wave of fear wash over her. She had chosen not to bring a lantern to avoid attracting attention to herself and while she knew it was the right thing to do, she hated that she couldn't see what lay ahead. She had been hoping to travel by moonlight but the dark trees of the East Forest blocked most of it.

When another crack sounded even closer to her this time, she felt herself backing up ever so slightly. Knowing she needed to get out of the way of whatever was coming, she decided to shuffle as quietly as she could to the right and felt herself brush a rather large tree.

 _Perfect,_ Lucy thought. _I can hide behind this and hopefully they won't see me._

Once she got behind the tree though she couldn't help but wonder why whatever was out there didn't have a light source either.

That had to mean they weren't human.

Which could be either very good or very bad for her.

 _Crack. Crack. Crack._

One by one, twigs began snapping faster until the sounds came to a sudden halt on the other side of the tree.

Lucy felt her breath catch in her throat as she waited for whatever it was to continue moving. She couldn't see or hear anything but she felt the presence of whatever was there.

 _C'mon, move!_ She thought irritably, hoping it would continue down the path past her and she would finally be able to get a move on again.

However, after about a minute of standing in eerie silence, Lucy felt her frustration ebb away as fear took over once more. What if it had stopped because it too had sensed her presence? What if it was silently moving towards her at this very moment?

Lucy reached inside her bag slowly and carefully, feeling around for her light lacrima. The small stone was difficult to find in her rather heavily packed bag though and she cursed herself for not putting it in a more accessible place. She would just have to go without light for now. When another crack sounded, she closed the bag abruptly and found herself backing up slowly.

Unfortunately, she happened to step on a rather large twig which produced a loud _SNAP_.

Lucy froze as the sound filled the air around them. There was no way whatever was out there hadn't heard it.

Sure enough, she heard a shuffle and the snapping of twigs in the darkness as it moved a few steps forward. Before Lucy could react though, it suddenly took off in what sounded like a gallop in the direction she came.

She tried her best to catch a glimpse of whatever it was until it finally hit a patch of moonlight shining through the dark trees.

A soft brown colour, four skinny legs, a small set of antlers… it was a deer.

Lucy heaved a large sigh of relief. It was just a deer.

She collapsed onto her hands and knees thanking whatever god she could that it hadn't been anything worse.

As Lucy sat there resting her legs, she couldn't help but wonder if she was cut out for this journey after all. She was only ten minutes into her journey through the east forest and she was already having a near heart attack over a measly little deer.

Still, she couldn't give up. None of the heroines in her books ever did. No matter what crossed their paths, they stayed strong and saw their missions through to the end. Lucy vowed to be like that.

With a renewed vigor, she stood and brushed the dirt off her cloak and dress. She slowly made her way back around the tree and managed to find her path again in the darkness.

She set off again, this time even more determined to reach her end goal. On the other side of these woods was the border of Fiore and Bosco. All she had to do was cross it and she would be safe in Bosco from the clutches of her stepmother – at least for now. It would probably take less than 12 hours for her to realize Lucy had escaped, but it would take much longer than that to figure out where she'd escaped to. Lucy figured she had about a week tops, if she was lucky enough.

With that in mind, she picked up her pace and continued forward; ready for whatever the forest threw at her next.

* * *

Lucy pulled her small pocket watch out of one of the inner pockets of her cloak and squinted, trying to make out the time in the dark. It was almost four in the morning which meant she had been walking for just over two hours now.

She had never stayed up this late before and she could feel her limbs begin to sag with exhaustion. It was only a matter of time before she'd have to take a break and find somewhere to nap. But where? It would have to be somewhere she could be somewhat comfortable but remain hidden.

As if on cue, she spotted a small clearing up ahead where an abandoned carriage lay in the moonlight.

 _An abandoned carriage in the forest; what could be more perfect?_ She thought happily as she practically skipped towards it… until suddenly she froze at the edge of the clearing, finally noticing the symbol on one of the carriage doors.

This was a royal carriage. And from the looks of it, it hadn't been deliberately abandoned. From all the scratches and holes in the walls, Lucy figured it had to have been attacked by a group of bandits – which meant that bandits were active in this area.

Lucy groaned and ran a hand down her face in frustration. Of course her good luck couldn't last a little while longer. At least until the sun rose and she could see her surroundings better.

She remained where she stood at the edge of the clearing, listening for any suspicious sounds or movements. After about ten minutes, she deemed it safe to continue forward.

As she got closer, she noticed moss growing along the sides of the carriage.

This meant – to her relief – that the attack had happened a while back and the chance of those bandits hanging around the crime scene for that long was highly unlikely.

Making up her mind, the blonde took one last look around before climbing into the carriage and closing the door.

"I'm surprised no one else seems to have used this for shelter." She wondered aloud as she surveyed the inside.

That is, until the smell inside hit her.

Mildew... and something else she couldn't quite place.

That is, until she glanced down. Splotches of dried blood littered the wooden floor of the structure.

She gagged at the stench and willed herself not to throw up.

 _It's only for one night._ She repeated to herself over and over again as she lowered herself into a sleeping position on one of the two benches. _Just one night and you're out of here._

She wrapped her cloak tightly around herself, making sure to cover her nose and tried her best to fall asleep.

It was going to be a long night.

* * *

Lucy awoke to the sound of voices outside. She sat up slowly, blinking and rubbing her eyes as she took in her surroundings. She immediately covered her nose and mouth as the awful stench of the carriage hit her once more.

Moving ever so slowly, she moved towards one of the windows and peeked through.

Standing on the edge of the clearing, not far from where she'd been the night before, were two hooded men with black masks covering their faces.

Lucy had never seen a bandit before but she was pretty sure she was looking at one. Or two.

Both were dressed head to toe in black. Their dark cloaks had large hoods that covered their faces, with matching masks. One was rather large and bulky; definitely not someone she wanted to mess with, while the other was slightly shorter and leaner.

 _So much for not leaving the crime scene,_ Lucy thought grumpily. Now she'd have to figure out a way out of here without them noticing her. As much as she'd love to spend the day hiding in the safety of the carriage, she knew she'd just up her chances of being caught by her step-mother.

She hadn't expected to see any bandits out and about in broad daylight. She had always been told they worked by moonlight.

 _Thanks a lot for the false information, Dad._ Lucy thought bitterly. That would make a great epitaph on her gravestone when the two bandits caught her and killed her.

She watched carefully, making sure to stay hidden, as they slowly circled the clearing. From their deep voices, she could tell they were men. However, it was impossible to pick up on what they were saying as they had their voices lowered and their masks muffling their words.

Eventually a third member of their group appeared and she watched the two follow them back into the forest until they were completely out of sight.

After a few minutes of waiting in silence, Lucy deemed it safe to venture out. As quietly as she could manage, she opened the door and stepped out into the sunshine. Despite wishing she could stay there longer and enjoy it, she knew she had to keep moving.

She ran for the trees in the opposite direction the masked men had gone.

Once she was a good distance away from the clearing, she finally came to a stop to catch her breath.

"That was a close one." She whispered to herself, relieved to have made it out without being spotted.

"Y'think?" A low voice whispered in her ear, startling her. Before she could reply or even turn around though, a large gloved hand covered her mouth.

She felt fear jolt through her as the shorter of the two men stepped in front of her. That meant the large, scary one was holding her – a terrifying prospect for a girl like herself trying to escape the clutches of a villain.

"Looks like you've got some presents there for us, Princess." She could hear the sly grin in the man's voice as he spoke again. His words caused her to clutch her bag closer to her. If they took all the valuables she'd stolen from her step-mother – another reason the old hag would surely come after her – she'd have nothing to sell for money when she reached Bosco and therefore no food or shelter.

He chuckled and grabbed her arm, "Now, now… be a good little girl and hand them over before someone gets hurt."

"Quit trying to scare her. Just take it and let's get out of here." The other man spoke up, tapping his food impatiently.

"Can't help it, she's too fun to tease." The man behind her tightened his grip on her arm. "Like a scared little bunny."

Lucy bristled at the bunny comment. Who did these punks think they were? And why was she just standing here letting them taunt her?

There was no way she was going down without a fight.

Taking advantage of the lull in conversation, she tried the first thing she could think of… spitting into the bandits hand. She wasn't positive it would work but she'd try anything at this point.

She cheered inwardly when, despite wearing gloves, he still recoiled in disgust.

"What the–?"

"LUCY KICK!" She spun around and delivered the hardest kick she could muster into the man's stomach, sending him flying backwards into a tree.

She heard the other man come up behind her and turned around to face him. When he charged forward, she rammed her leg right up between his. He crumpled immediately, clutching his manhood with a cry of agony.

"What the hell are you doin' stripper? Get up!" She heard the other man rising to his feet and took the opportunity to grab her bag and book it.

"Not so fast!" She heard him yell from close behind her.

 _Damn it all, I should've kicked him in the balls as well._ Lucy thought furiously, trying to pick up her pace but failing. She was never much of a runner.

"Damn it, why did you have to fight back!" His voice grew louder as he drew closer to her. "Sorry Blondie but you've left me no other choice!"

Before she could turn around to see what he meant; cold, hard metal hit the back of her head and everything went black.

* * *

Lucy awoke for the second time that day with a pounding headache. She blinked and looked around the room she was in while clutching the back of her head.

Judging by the steel bars in front of her, she was in a prison cell. A small, poorly lit one at that.

"Why the hell are these people _imprisoning_ me?!" She whined out loud, not caring who heard her anymore.

All she wanted was to get the hell out of Fiore and away from her step-mother, and this group of _idiots_ was ruining everything. At this point in her journey, she was more fed up than afraid.

"Because we suspect that you're a spy for the King." A male voice, not as deep as the other two she had heard before, spoke.

She looked up to see another cloaked figure standing on the other side of the steel bars, watching her.

"W-what?!" Lucy spluttered at the accusation. "W-why would I do that?"

"It wouldn't be the first time it's happened." The cloaked man said bitterly. "A sweet, young girl goes out into the forest and purposely gets caught. Little do we know she's got a tracking lacrima on her, leading the royal army straight to our hideout. We fell for it once and it almost cost the lives of my men. I won't let that happen again."

Lucy blinked, "He actually gets young girls involved in his schemes? I mean, I always knew he paid those men to hunt wizards and bandits but I had no idea he stooped _that_ low."

The man snorted, "You think that's the lowest he's gone? Obviously you haven't heard of the annual wizard purge."

The way the man spoke told her that he must've lost someone to the purge. She hung her head in sorrow, "No, of course I've heard of it. It's an awful, awful event. I'm sorry."

The cloaked man regarded her with interest, "Well, you're definitely the best actress I've met so far."

Lucy bristled at the comment. How dare he accuse her of being dishonest? She had never agreed with anything the King ever did. "I am not acting you nitwit! I have never agreed with that wretched man's laws. My parents were good people who raised me better than that!"

"If your parents are so great, why are you out here in the middle of the East Forest alone without them?" The man shot back.

"Because they're _dead_!" She spat with such venom, the man actually took a step back.

"They're dead," She repeated, this time more sad than angry; feeling the loss of her father sink in again. It had only been just over a week since his passing and the wound was still fresh. "And there's nothing left for me back there except for that awful step-mother of mine."

She shot the man a venomous glare, "So _that's_ why I'm out here in the middle of the forest alone. I have no interest in you or your stupid thieving friends. Unlike you, I have morals."

"Morals?" He questioned.

"Yes; I don't go around stealing from innocent people or locking them in dirty prison cells."

The man snorted. "Why would you, _princess_?" He asked, putting emphasis on the last word.

"That's not fair," She snapped. "I can't help that I was born to a rich family. It doesn't mean I haven't done what I can to help." Her parents – especially her mother – had always been generous in handing out donations and food to the less fortunate citizens in their village.

"We do what we can to help too." He countered irritably. "Not all the stuff we steal goes to us y'know. We always donate half to the less fortunate people we meet on our journeys."

"How do I know you're telling the truth?" Lucy asked suspiciously.

"How do I know _you're_ telling the truth?" He shot back.

Lucy groaned in annoyance. This conversation could go on forever. She needed to get out of here or she'd never make it to Bosco.

"Look, I need to get out of here before my witch of a step-mother comes after me, so I'm afraid you're just going to have to trust me." She said. "Now can I please have my bag back so I can be on my way?"

"Nope."

"Why not?" She questioned angrily. "If you've already checked it, then you know I'm not hiding any weapons or a tracking lacrima so why hold me?"

"Because we can't afford to have you report any of this back to the King until we know you're definitely not a threat. I can't put my group in danger." He said, crossing his arms. "But don't worry; I'll make sure the valuables in there go to people in need of them."

Lucy scowled, "You can't just give my stuff away. I'll need that to survive once I get out of here. That's all I have!"

"Not my problem." The man replied in an almost bored tone.

Then Lucy remembered her keys. Reaching into the pockets of her cloak, she found they weren't there anymore.

"My keys! What did you do with them?" She growled, feeling her rage grow with every passing moment. It felt like her gut was on fire.

"They'll be sold for jewels obviously." He responded. "Why do you care so much? They're just keys."

"Give. Them. Back." She snarled dangerously, feeling the warmth of her rage within her growing stronger and stronger.

"That's not gonna happen." He said, though with less certainty than before. "Anyway, this is no longer entertaining. I'll be off now."

He turned to leave as Lucy began sobbing. Those keys were all she had left of her mother. She couldn't lose them. She had lost so much already.

"NO." She screamed, causing him to turn around again. "YOU CAN'T HAVE THEM!"

Before the man could respond, a bright golden light filled the room. He shielded his eyes and watched in shock as she sobbed and wailed, bright light shooting out from every inch of her. So this girl was the one producing the strange light, huh?

Lucy continued to sob, memories of her parents flashing through her mind at lightning speed, causing the light to grow stronger and stronger... until eventually the memories began to fade away and gradually so did the light.

Lucy suddenly felt exhausted. Like she'd been drained of something; though she had no idea what.

The man finally looked up again, removing his arm from over his eyes to find the girl breathing heavily on the floor, no longer crying.

"Are... are you a wizard?" He asked slowly.

Lucy's sobs broke off at the question and she blinked back her tears to look at the cloaked man, who now stood even closer to her cell than before.

"I– I don't know." She answered honestly. She had seen and felt the bright light she had produced but she had no idea what it meant. Was she a wizard?

"And your parents never told you huh?" He mused, regarding her thoughtfully. "Well, can't say I blame them."

"But I–"

"Well this certainly changes things," He continued. "I'll have to take you to Erza. Come with me." He opened the door of the cell and held a hand out to her.

Lucy glared at it. "No."

"No?" He asked incredulously. "You wanna stay in here?"

"Take off your hood and mask first. I want to see your face." She crossed her arms. " _And_ I want my stuff back!"

For the first time since their meeting, the man chuckled. "Your stuff is fine anyway, I was just messing with you. But seeing my face means I'll have to kill you if you turn out to be a spy or informant of any kind."

"That's fine by me," Lucy responded curtly. "Because I am neither of those things."

The man chuckled again, "Alright alright, here we go."

He pulled back his hood to reveal a head of spiky pink hair and she put a hand over her mouth to suppress a giggle.

"Oi," He said, narrowing his eyes as he noticed her. "No laughing. It's natural and it's _not_ pink!"

"What colour is that then?" She asked, holding in another giggle.

"Salmon."

"I'm pretty sure it's just pink." She argued with a sly grin.

"No, it's salmon!"

"Alright alright," She chuckled, seeing his eyes narrow again from behind his mask. "Salmon it is. Now off with the mask."

"What, so you can make fun of my face? No thanks."

"Why? Are you really ugly or something?"

The pink haired man balked at the question. "No, I am not ugly!"

Lucy rolled her eyes, but couldn't help giggling at how childish this man was acting. "Then take it off."

"Fine," He grumbled, putting his cloak down on the bench beside him so he could take his mask off.

Lucy's eyes widened as he removed the mask. He looked to be about her age, maybe a couple of years older, with tanned skin and intense onyx eyes. His teeth were sharper than that of a normal human, reminding her more of a wolf or a dragon. And strangely enough, the salmon coloured hair went perfectly with all of it.

He was actually pretty handsome.

Not that she had many guys to compare him to. Just the creepy old noblemen she'd see at royal gatherings.

"Oi, quit staring." He said, waving a hand in front of her face, causing her to blush.

"I– I'm not… I just haven't seen a lot of guys my age before, that's all." She admitted, looking down in an attempt to hide her rosy cheeks.

"Is that so? Well you're about to see a whole lot more where we're going." He grinned, grabbing his cloak from the ground and tossing it over his arm.

"And where is that exactly?" She asked suspiciously.

He chuckled. "Just our meeting room. Don't worry, I'm not gonna throw you in another prison cell so long as you behave yourself."

"Are the guys I kicked going to be there?" Lucy asked warily as she followed him out of the cell. "I have a feeling they won't be so happy to see me."

"Nah, they'll be fin– wait, _you're_ the one who kicked Ice Princess in the balls?!" He turned to her with an incredulous look plastered across his face.

Lucy scrunched her brows in confusion. "I don't know who this 'Ice Princess' you speak of is but I kicked the bigger guy in the stomach and the shorter guy with him in the balls. Why?"

The pink haired boy doubled over laughing and Lucy stood there with a puzzled expression. What the hell was this guy laughing about? And who is this 'Ice Princess' he speaks of?

"What is so funny?" She snapped, growing impatient.

"H-he's s-such a l-loser." He heaved through his laughter, completely ignoring her question.

She huffed in annoyance. "Who is 'Ice Princess' anyway?" She asked, "Is that your girlfriend?"

The second question put a stop to his laughter immediately and the pink haired boy began sputtering. "W-what?! There's no way I'm dating that Pervy Popsicle!"

Pervy Popsicle? Ice Princess? She felt bad for the recipient of these god awful nicknames.

"Let's just get this over with please," She said, walking on ahead. Seconds later he was beside her again and they were walking down a wide hallway made of smooth grey and white stone. There were torches every few feet and the occasional portrait lining the walls.

"Y'know, for a girl of your status, you sure know a lot of curse words. And don't even get me started on the kicking thing – not that I'm complaining." He added with a snicker.

Lucy shrugged, "I guess I spent more time with the servants growing up than I did with other noble children."

"Huh," The pink haired boy mused. "That's an answer I certainly didn't expect."

"Yeah well I guess I'm just full of surprises," Lucy grinned.

He chuckled, "Yeah, I guess you are."

"Say, what's your name?" Lucy asked. But before he could answer, another voice answered for him.

"Natsu! Just what do you think you are you doing?"

The two turned to see a young woman, with long red hair, who looked to be about their age – maybe a couple of years older – walking towards them with a thunderous expression.

"Relax Erza, I think she might be a wizard." The boy – Natsu – explained coolly as she approached. "I brought her to the meeting room so we could test some magical objects on her to see."

"A wizard? Really?" The red haired girl regarded her with interest as she approached the pair.

Suddenly, Lucy felt uneasy. She knew what happened to wizards when the King got a hold of them but what would happen to her here? She still knew very little about these people. Only that they stole from rich people and supposedly donated half of their loot to people in need.

"Y-you guys aren't going to kill me, are you?" She asked nervously.

"Kill you?" Natsu looked surprised. "For being a wizard? Of course not." He crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes at the blonde. "Don't you remember our conversation back there? We are against the king and his policies."

Lucy let out a breath of relief. She had almost forgotten their intense conversation before the whole magical power discovery.

"Indeed," Erza agreed. "Plus it would mean killing our own kind and we could never do that. Not when our numbers have been dwindling."

"Our?" Lucy repeated dumbly. "Wait, you guys are wizards?!"

"Well duh," Natsu answered with a raised eyebrow. "Isn't it obvious?"

Lucy frowned. "Um no, it's not like you've done anything magical since I met you."

"Well then let me show y–"

Erza grabbed him by the collar and dragged him towards a room with a wooden door. "Now is not the time for you to show off. We must test her and see if she is in fact a wizard."

The red head led the pair into a room with a long table and several chairs surrounding it. After closing the door, she walked over to a red box in the corner of the room and pulled out a few objects.

"Where are Gray and Gajeel? I told them to join us here." Natsu questioned, pulling out a chair for the blonde.

"They're still nursing their injuries I'm afraid." Lucy caught the glint of amusement in the redhead's eye as she answered.

"What a couple of sissies." The pink haired mage scoffed.

Erza simply rolled her eyes before turning back to the box. "Natsu, can you take these and put them on the table in front of her?"

"Aren't I supposed to be the one giving you the orders?" He grumbled, grabbing the objects anyway and placing them in front of the blonde.

"You're the leader here?" Lucy asked, unable to mask her surprise. She was sure the fiery redhead was the boss around here.

"Sure am. Erza is just bossy." He whispered to the blonde, shooting her a toothy grin that made her breath catch in her throat.

"Before we start, tell me your name." Erza demanded as she sat down across from them at the table.

"L-Lucy."

"Very well. Lucy, please pick up the circular object in front of you."

The blonde looked down to see a larger version of her Lacrima Light.

Happy the object was something she was familiar with, she picked it up and watched with a grin as it turned on immediately.

Erza happened to be watching her face carefully as she picked it up; noting the blonde's familiarity with the object.

"Lucy, do you happen to own a Lacrima Light?" The redhead asked.

"I do actually," Lucy smiled again when it turned off. "It was a gift from my Grandmother. I've had it for ages."

She missed the two mages exchanging a look.

"And do you know how it works?" Natsu asked slowly.

"My grandmother told me it was a magical object but that it doesn't require magic for use. It's supposed to be full of magic power already so all you need to do is will it to turn on and off and it'll obey." Lucy explained. "It's funny how mine never ran out considering I used it so much as a child." She mused, examining the light before placing it back on the table.

"Well that was certainly clever of your Grandmother." Erza said, looking almost amused.

"What do you mean?" Lucy asked, cocking her head to the side.

"She means that what your Grandmother told you wasn't the truth," Natsu answered, taking a seat beside the blonde. "Lacrima Lights aren't loaded with magic power; they only work if magic power is constantly being poured into them, meaning only a wizard can use one."

"O-only a wizard can use one?" Lucy blinked. "Then that would mean that…"

"Yes, it means your Grandmother was a mage, just like you are." Erza smiled softly at the blonde. "And it also means we've found another mage to join our group. That is, if you'd like to." She added.

Lucy stared at the redhead before looking to Natsu who gave her his big megawatt smile, turning her insides to jelly. Not that she'd ever admit that out loud.

"Wait, ten minutes ago I was a criminal and now you guys want me to be a part of your group?" Lucy asked, surprised.

Erza chuckled. "It's not quite that simple. We have a mage in our group with fortune telling abilities and we had her do a reading on you. I was actually on my way to tell Natsu about it when I bumped into you two."

"So you knew she was a wizard?" Natsu raised a brow.

"No, Cana's cards didn't tell us that. Just that she was trustworthy and would be a good addition to our group," Erza explained. "Though her being a wizard certainly helps me to believe that. A girl in Lucy's position wouldn't benefit from aiding the king. She'd probably wind up dead."

Lucy gulped at the mention of death while Natsu nodded. "That's true. So waddya say Lucy? You interested in joining our group?"

Could she do it? Could she really abandon her plans to go to Bosco?

Oddly enough, the thought of going to Bosco alone no longer appealed to the blonde. She'd spent so much of her life alone. Why continue to do that when she could join a group of people who were just like her? People who could teach her about who she was and support her. Maybe they would even become lifelong friends?

Lucy smiled at the prospect. "I'd like that."

Natsu grinned and threw an arm around her shoulder, causing her to blush. "Good choice Lucy, you're going to love it here. Welcome to Fairy Tail!"

* * *

 **A/N: The "Lacrima Light" object is a play on the Witchlight from the Mortal Instruments series (You can google it). This is an AU story so I figured I could throw that in here.**

 **This chapter was left sorta open-ended and will leave you with a lot of questions I imagine, but not to worry, many of them will be addressed in the next chapter. I'm already excited to release it lol.**

 **BIG THANKS to everyone who favourited/followed/reviewed last time, especially reviewers. I LOVE reviews :D**

 **Thanks to reviewers: Wolf Rodriguez, ThayetJade, Golbez4, Guest, booklover551, Guest, Sakuramy, ChiliR612 and TrigunXx54.**

 **And sorry if I don't respond to reviews, I'm a university student and I get overwhelmed with school CONSTANTLY. This chapter is going up much later than I planned and if you read my other stories, you know sometimes my updates can take a while. But I will never abandon a story, don't you worry :)**

 **Thanks for reading, lemme know what you thought of this chapter and I'll see you next time :)**


	3. Blood

**A/N: *Important***

 **Gotta thank ThayetJade for the review because it made me realize a mistake I made in the first chapter. Lucy does NOT start out with all of her keys, she only has five gold keys to begin with. You'll find out which ones later on. And she still needs to figure out what magic she possesses.**

* * *

After Lucy accepted her invitation to join Fairy Tail, Erza had her test out a few more magic powered items before Natsu finally stepped in, losing patience.

"Erza, it's pretty damn obvious she's a mage. How much more does she have to do to prove that?"

The redhead shook her head looking mildly frustrated. "It's not that. I was hoping one of these items would give us a better idea of what her power is." She then turned to the blonde looking contrite. "I'm sorry Lucy. I didn't mean to tire you out. I was just hoping we could figure out your power sooner rather than later." She sighed, gathering the remaining items in her arms. "It would help to know what it is in case we run into trouble later on."

Lucy waved away the apology. "Don't worry Erza, I feel totally fine. But I'm a little confused… what did you mean with that last sentence? Why would it help to know that if we were in trouble?"

She didn't miss Erza and Natsu exchange a quick look before the redhead continued. "Lucy, how much do you know about the King and his hunters?"

Lucy frowned, "Admittedly, not much."

"Do you know that he pays them to hunt?"

Lucy nodded, "I figured as much. I just don't really know the specifics of it."

"Well basically, the rewards vary. Meaning, the stronger the wizard, the higher the bounty and the rarer the magic, the more likely you are to have a bounty placed on you." Erza explained. "If you happen to be both a strong wizard with a rare magic, then you're basically…"

"Screwed." Natsu finished for her, his onyx eyes darkening.

"Yes," Erza nodded. "The best way to stay safe as a mage in this world is to keep your powers under wraps whenever possible and to _never_ let a hunter see your face. We learned that the hard way."

"What do you mean by that?" Lucy asked, fearing the answer.

"Erza and I both have bounties on our heads." Natsu answered, ignoring Lucy's wide eyed reaction. "Actually, come to think of it, a lot of people we know do. Gildarts, Laxus, Makarov… and others from other groups like ours."

Lucy didn't recognize any of the names he mentioned. She was more focused anyway on how ridiculously nonchalant Natsu sounded considering he was on the damned _King's List_. Regular mages could still walk around and blend into normal society if they had to. Their only concern was being caught using magic. While being on the King's List meant that Erza, Natsu and others like them were essentially fugitives. They had people actively looking for them. The thought sent a chill up Lucy's spine. She wouldn't want to be in their shoes.

"I'm sure my power's not that special anyway…" Lucy managed an uneasy smile. _Or at least I really hope it's not._

"I dunno, it looked pretty powerful to me." Natsu said. "For someone who's never really fully utilised their magic power before, you created quite the blast of light."

Lucy gulped, feeling torn between being proud of herself for achieving such a feat for an amateur mage and cursing herself for unwittingly showing how much power she could produce. At least it was only Natsu who saw it.

"A blast of light you say?" Erza eyed the blonde with renewed interest. "What kind of light?

"It was a warm golden light, but it was pretty strong." Natsu answered, scrunching his eyebrows together at the memory. "I had to cover my eyes until it finally died down."

"Why did you produce it anyway?" Erza asked the blonde.

At this, Lucy turned to glare at Natsu who looked away rather quickly. "I didn't mean to. It's just that _someone_ wouldn't give me back my keys and told me he was going to sell them. They were a precious heirloom passed down from my mother. So I just… freaked. I'm not really sure how it even happened. I guess I just wasn't in control of my emotions?"

Erza nodded before turning to Natsu with a rather frightening look. "Why were you threatening to sell her stuff?" She asked, her tone sharp as a knife. "We never planned on doing that."

Natsu had the decency to look ashamed as he shrugged. "I was just trying to scare her into admitting she was a spy…"

"Which I'm not," Lucy snapped at the pink haired mage, who simply rolled his eyes.

"Obviously I know that now."

Erza sighed. "Well I guess it worked out for the best. That little outburst is the only clue we have for figuring out what kind of magic Lucy wields."

"So then, what now?" Lucy asked, looking between the two mages.

"I'm going to take you to see Mira and the others," Natsu said, before turning to Erza. "And Erza, it would be great if you could contact Gramps to let him know about Lucy."

The red haired mage nodded. "Yes, good idea. I'll get right on that." She placed the magical items back in the chest before closing it and heading for the door. Before leaving, she turned in the doorway and smiled at the blonde, "It was nice meeting you Lucy. Good luck with everything. I'll see you later."

"You too Erza," The blonde returned the smile. "Thank you."

After she left, Natsu turned to Lucy with his bright megawatt grin. "Shall we?"

* * *

"Where are we anyway?" Lucy asked as they walked down another large hallway. The walls were the same grey stone she had seen earlier.

"Right now we're in the basement, but this whole building in general serves as our headquarters." Natsu said, waving his arm outward. "We're going upstairs to the main hall to have you meet Mira and the others."

"Bandits have headquarters?"

Natsu snorted. "No, regular bandits just camp out in the forests. _Wizards_ however have headquarters –also known as Guilds – where we can gather and hide from the King's men."

"But this place seems pretty big," Lucy said, scrunching her eyebrows in confusion. "Wouldn't it be pretty easy for them to spot?"

The pink haired mage chuckled. "Well that's what magical glamours are for." Upon seeing her puzzled expression, he grinned and proceeded to explain. "We have a mage in our group, Freed, who specializes in runic magic. He's basically put a sort of shield over our Guild that makes it invisible from the outside to anyone without a Guild stamp," He proceeded to raise his arm to show her his own guild mark, until he realized he was wearing a long sleeved black shirt still. "Well, mine sits just below my shoulder here." He pointed to the spot on his arm. "Anyway, without it, it's impossible to see. Even other guilds we're allied with can't find our HQ. They would need a member of Fairy Tail with them."

"Really? Even if they're allies?" Lucy questioned. It seemed a little weird to her that they wouldn't trust the people they chose as allies.

As if reading her thoughts, Natsu said, "It's not because we don't trust them. It's just another measure of safety. If one of them were captured, the enemy could use them to get to us and we'd have no idea. Whereas in our Guild, we have a special book – which I'll have Mira show you in a bit – that helps us keep track of our members. It's more difficult with our allies since they don't share the same Guild mark."

Lucy nodded, taking in this new information. "So how do the allied groups stay protected? Do they have their own mages like this Freed fellow?"

"Some do, though not all. Freed actually makes a lot of jewels just from helping other wizards out with protection spells, rune barriers and such." He said with a shrug. "There are mages like him out there, but very few. So it's a good way for him to make some extra dough and keep others safe. If someone is really desperate, he'll even do the work for free."

"That's nice of him to do it for free," Lucy mused. "I guess you guys gotta look out for each other with all those crazy hunters running around."

Natsu grinned, "Exactly. He's definitely an important member of our guild though. We'd be pretty screwed without him. Because of his runes, we have something of a home here hidden away from all the chaos."

At the end of the long, cavernous hallway, they reached a stone staircase and began to climb.

"Upstairs is the main hall where all our big meetings take place. It's also where our members hang out and eat." Natsu explained as they climbed the stairs. "And the two floors above the main hall are all accommodation."

"Accommodation? You mean you guys all live here?" She asked. Not that it should surprise her; the place was huge. It took ages just for them to get out of the basement.

He snorted, "Yeah, where else would we live?"

"Well you guys are bandits so I assumed…"

"We're not actually bandits," Natsu corrected with a grin. "It's more of a part-time job. We've gotta make money somehow and those rich folk have way too much of it."

They reached the top of the staircase and turned down another hallway, this one brighter than before, with white walls and a cherry oak floor.

Then Lucy remembered something. "Say Natsu, that abandoned carriage out there in the clearing… you guys didn't… y'know… did you?"

She wasn't sure how she'd feel if he said yes. There was a lot of blood on the floor and she couldn't help but wonder what happened to the occupants if they weren't able to leave the forest in their carriage. Natsu wouldn't harm them… would he?

He shook his head, understanding her question. "Nah, that carriage has been there for ages. I'm pretty sure it was a group of real bandits that attacked it." He answered. "We would never attack a royal carriage anyway – way too risky."

 _Phew_.

"Right, that makes sense." Lucy said, relieved she wasn't joining a gang of murderers.

They turned another corner, entering an enormous room with high ceilings and large windows, letting in plenty of natural light. Large rectangular tables and benches made of a dark mahogany were spread across the room in neat rows, still allowing plenty of space for people to wander around. At the front of the room was a large bar that matched the colour of the tables. Lucy counted ten bar stools with green velvet cushions lining the bar. Upon one of them sat a girl with long chocolate brown hair, mug in hand, chatting to a girl with long wavy white hair behind the bar.

The two girls seemed to be the only ones at the bar. All the other members were spread across the room, sitting at different tables chatting away.

"Ah there she is," Natsu cheered, stepping into the room before beckoning Lucy. "C'mon, this way!"

Lucy had been expecting him to lead her to one of the tables but instead he led her right up to the bar where the two girls were chatting.

"Yo, Mira, Cana," He called, getting their attention. "This is Lucy. She's the girl Gray and Gajeel caught earlier."

The white haired girl looked up while the brunette swivelled in her seat to get a better look at the blonde.

"Yo," The brunette slurred with a grin, giving Lucy a little wave. "My name's Cana and this is Mirajane." She said, sloshing her drink a bit when she gestured toward the girl behind the bar.

The white haired girl – Mirajane – smiled brightly at the new arrival, coming out from behind the bar to greet her. "Hi Lucy, it's nice to meet you! You can just call me Mira. How do you like the guild so far?"

Lucy shook her hand with a big smile, relieved that this Mira girl appeared to be friendly. She had been wondering what a meeting with her would entail. "It's nice to meet you too, Mira! I haven't seen much of the guild yet – though I can say with great certainty the dungeon isn't my favourite place –" She shot the pink haired boy a scathing look. "–but the rest seems really nice!"

Natsu groaned, "Will you let that go already? I didn't even put you in there; it was Gajeel."

Mira giggled, "Well I'm glad the two of you seem to be getting along."

"Yeah, yeah," Natsu waved off her remark, hopping on one of the barstools. "Can you grab the book? Lucy has decided to join Fairy Tail!"

"You have, have you?" Cana turned towards the blonde with a sly smirk. "Couldn't stay away from Pinky over there eh?"

Lucy flushed and looked just anywhere but at Natsu. Mira winked her way before excusing herself and slipping through a door behind her. Natsu narrowed his eyes at the brunette, "It's not pink… it's _salmon_." The insinuation behind Cana's words going right over his head. Then he noticed the blonde and turned to her with a quirked brow, "Are you feeling okay Lucy? Your face is really red."

Cana snickered at the blonde's flushed face and Lucy prayed she wouldn't say anything more. Not that Cana's words were true in any way – she hadn't joined because of Natsu, she'd joined because joining Fairy Tail would mean protection from the crown as well as the possibility of new friends – but she couldn't help it; she embarrassed easily… too easily… especially when the pink haired mage was involved.

Lucy waved away his question with a nervous chuckle, "Oh yeah, I'm fine. Just feeling a little warm."

"Oh, okay." He said, accepting the simple response. Cana rolled her eyes and opened her mouth to say something else but Mira waltzed back into the room with a large leather bound book in her arms, looking possibly more cheerful than before.

"This is so exciting," She beamed, flipping through the book. "We haven't had a new member in a while."

"I guess it's hard to find wizards to join," Lucy mused, planting herself on the barstool across from Mira.

Mira nodded, her smile stayed put but her eyes darkened ever so slightly. "It is. The only way we're able to recruit new members is if we seek them out ourselves. We usually pick them up on rescue missions from different hunter dens."

"Hunter dens?" Lucy questioned. She had never heard of them before but they didn't sound too great.

A low growl sounded beside her and Lucy swivelled in her seat, searching for the source of the noise. It wasn't until it grew louder that she realized it was coming from Natsu, who had his fists balled up and jaw clenched.

"They're generally where wizards are taken after being captured," Mira explained, casting a wary look at the pink haired mage before continuing. "Before they can be taken to the king, the hunters must make sure the mage is indeed a mage since the punishment for bringing a non-mage in by accident is pretty severe. Unfortunately, there are many dens that are used solely for torture, filled with magic nullifying devices and other awful things like that." Mira broke off with a troubled look, her lip quivering.

Lucy was finally starting to understand Natsu's growling and Mira's faraway look. Even Cana was silent, keeping her gaze locked on the mug of alcohol in front of her. "Mira… did they take someone from Fairy Tail?"

She nodded slowly before speaking, "My sister."

"But we're going to find her!" Natsu spoke up suddenly, slamming a fist down on the bar top. "She's not dead so that means we've still got a chance."

"Natsu I–"

" _No_ , Mira." He said firmly before snatching the book off the counter, flipping through the weathered pages before he landed on one with a picture of a girl who looked very much like Mira, except her hair was much shorter, falling just before her shoulders. Underneath the picture was a red fingerprint, followed by a list of basic information, written in a neat cursive with blank ink. Natsu pointed at the red fingerprint, "See? ALIVE."

That's when Lucy noticed it. The fingerprint seemed to be… pulsing; almost like it had a heartbeat.

"What is that?" Lucy wondered aloud, reaching forward without thinking.

A warm hand grabbed her wrist gently and lowered it beside the book. "Sorry Lucy, it's best to keep your hands off." Natsu said. "It's under a spell and if you get your fingerprints all over it, it could screw things up."

"Under a spell?" She repeated dumbly, looking between the two mages and the open book.

"Yes," Mira answered, her cheery demeanor from before no more. "We use this book to keep track of the wizards in our guild – which is why I'll need you to cooperate while we fill out your page; it's very important." She pushed the book closer to Lucy and pointed at the finger print. "Each wizard is required to give a fingerprint using their own blood–" She broke off with a small chuckle as Lucy recoiled at the request. "It's not as gruesome as it sounds. You just need a little bit of your own blood, enough to spread across your thumb to make a full fingerprint on the page. Then our Master casts a special spell on it. It allows us to know if the wizard is alive or not. When the wizard dies, the fingerprint will turn black."

 _Magic that allows you to know whether someone is alive or dead? That's pretty useful._ Lucy thought.

"Does it allow you to track the wizard as well?" She asked. Though she figured it was a dumb question; if the spell had tracking capabilities they would be on their way to rescue Mira's sister right now, not talking to her.

Mira shook her head, "No, we use our guild marks to track members of our guild. Unfortunately for Lisanna, hers stopped working not long after she disappeared."

"Oh," Lucy said. "I wonder if that means–"

"It's not the same as the guild mark," Natsu cut in fiercely. "The fingerprint spell is supposed to be much stronger than the one placed on our guild mark–"

Suddenly Lucy's head began to throb painfully. She clutched both sides of her head, unaware the others had stopped talking and were now watching her with looks of concern. She groaned in agony at the pain and scrunched her eyes shut, willing it to go away.

However, the moment she re-opened her eyes the guild hall and its mages began to slowly melt away, leaving behind a scene she recognized all too well.

Before her stood a woman she missed more than words could describe; her mother. And with her was a younger version of herself, maybe five or six years old at the time. They were back in the library of the Heartfilia mansion and appeared to be in the middle of an important discussion.

 _"Remember Lucy, what makes a spell like this more powerful than anything is–_ "

" _Blood, I know… Blech. Don't you have any nicer spells mama?"_

 _The woman chuckled, kneeling before her daughter. "A few. But it's very important you understand this one, Sweet Pea." She laughed again at the pouty face her daughter made. "Please Lucy, just hear me out, I'm afraid we don't have much time. When a spell is cast using the blood of the caster or simply the blood of another mage, it amplifies its power. Now, this can be handy if used by a good wizard but very dangerous if a dark wizard were to cast it."_

 _Little Lucy blinked, "But why mama?"_

 _"Spells that utilize the blood of wizards can't be contained or nullified by anything, my dear. So going up against such a spell can be incredibly difficult." Layla explained, eyeing the door behind her as if expecting someone to stroll through at any moment, before turning back to her daughter. "These sorts of spells are generally cast on objects. You can identify such an object by the way it moves. Almost like it has a heartbeat… but you must watch and listen carefully for it–"_

 _"Lady Layla," A tall goat… man? – was that was Lucy was looking at? – stood in the doorway with a solemn expression. "Porlyusica is here with the next batch of potion."_

 _"Thank you Capricorn, we'll be there in a moment." Lucy's mom gave the goat man – Capricorn – a small smile and he bowed before retreating out the door. She sighed and turned back to her daughter. "I'm sorry my love, it's time for another vial of potion."_

 _Lucy's big brown eyes filled with tears immediately, "No, I hate that potion mama!"_

 _"Lucy it keeps you safe. I need you to be safe. Please don't fight me on this." She wrapped the small girl in a tight hug and whispered into her ear, "Be brave my love, if only for a little while longer."_

 _The little girl nodded her head, wiping at her tear stained face with the sleeve of her dress._

 _"Come now, we can't keep Porlyusica waiting."_

As younger Lucy reached for her mother's hand, Lucy's vision began to blur and the room was suddenly spinning, pulling her out of the cozy library and into a cold, uninviting darkness.

* * *

 **A/N: Thanks to everyone who reviewed last chapter: Sakuramy, FireShifter, KarinStalker24, Guest and schmad20**

 **I decided to split this chapter in half because it's going to be a lot longer than I thought and I have a lot of school work coming up. You'll be meeting other guild members next chapter and then we'll finally be jumping into the action.**

 **As always, leave a review and tell me what you thought :) (They're great for motivating me to write) xx**


	4. Steeped in Secrets

**A/N: Sorry the chapter is late. I always think I can get this stuff done before exam season starts but that never happens. Either way exams are over now and I've got all Christmas/Summer break to get back to writing. Or I at least have more free time to attempt to balance writing with my surprisingly busy social life.**

 **Just a note: this story is NaLu and I love Brotp's. You'll see what I mean.**

* * *

Lucy Heartfilia awoke for the _third_ time that day in what looked to be an infirmary. The walls were a pale blue colour and several beds with plain white cotton sheets lined both walls. The room was well lit with a large bay window at the far end. The last of the late afternoon sun peeked in past the periwinkle blue curtains before dipping below the horizon for the evening.

"Oh good, you're awake."

She sat up and turned expecting to find Natsu sitting there, but instead a small black cat stood on the chair next to her bed smiling at her. He was–oddly enough–dressed in green pants with an orange waistband and had a red sword strapped to his back.

"I–uh…" She struggled to find her words. _There is no way this cat was the one who spoke to me just now. I must be going crazy._

"You must be Lucy, my name is– _"_

Lucy screamed bloody murder. Perhaps it wasn't necessary–after all, it was a talking cat and how evil could a talking cat be? But it did have a weapon so perhaps her fear wasn't totally unjustified?

The cat nearly stumbled off the chair in surprise and covered his ears with his small paws.

Then another voice entered the fray, cutting off Lucy's scream. "Oi! Bunny Girl! What the hell are ya screaming for?!"

The blonde whirled around to see two young men standing in the doorway; one looking rather amused while the other looked incredibly vexed.

The less-than-amused one–who happened to be the one who addressed her as "bunny girl"–walked over to her bed, scowling the whole way. He made the talking cat look like the Easter bunny. He was well over six feet tall, with long black hair and multiple metal studs lining his arms and face. His red eyes and the scowl etched on his face certainly didn't compliment his looks.

The cat cleared his throat, "Uh, I think I may have frightened her." He then turned to Lucy who watched him with wide eyes. "I'm sorry Miss Lucy; I didn't mean to frighten you. I truly meant you no harm."

Lucy relaxed, seeing the honesty in his eyes and smiled gently at the cat. But before she could respond the more frightening young man spoke up. "Of course he means you no harm. Have you never seen an Exceed before blondie?"

Lucy bristled at the nickname. Blondie? Bunny Girl? Those were nicknames you gave to a whore at a brothel, not a young lady of her status.

However, her angry retort died in her mouth as recognition hit her. Exceed. Where had she heard that word before?

Right, her Grandmother. She had described them as small cat-like creatures with the ability to speak and fly. But she had also told Lucy they were extinct.

"I–I thought… well, m–my Grandmother told me that the Exceed race had gone extinct about thirty years ago."

"Well that's a load of crap." The pierced mage said, glaring down at her.

"Not necessarily," The other young man was now sitting across from her on one of the other infirmary beds. He was rather handsome, with messy black hair and dark blue eyes, and he seemed much kinder than his partner. He was dressed head to toe in black, in an outfit that looked quite familiar but Lucy couldn't place it. "When the current king came into power, he had Exceeds hunted before he even started on wizards. From what I've heard, most of them went into hiding. That happened around thirty years ago."

"So then what's all this talk about being extinct?" The red eyed man growled.

"It was probably a way to stop them from hunting Exceeds," Lucy said, surprising them both with her answer. "I imagine wizards or any other allies to the Exceed race helped to spread the rumour. It's clever really," She smiled gently at the black Exceed. "I can see why my grandmother fed me the same lie. I was only a little girl at the time; I could have easily blurted out anything that could get you guys into trouble."

The man with the dark blue eyes smiled, "Hey, you're pretty smart aren't ya? You may not know much about magic at the moment but your brain power will certainly come in handy down the line." He then extended a black gloved hand, "I'm Gray by the way, Gray Fullbuster. And this grump is Gajeel Redfox. I'm glad we could meet in better circumstances." He added with a sheepish grin.

And that's when Lucy realized why she recognized his clothes.

These were the guys that kidnapped her in the forest.

Suddenly she could feel her cheeks burning with embarrassment. That meant that these were the same guys she kicked, and judging by their statures, Gray had been the one she had kicked in the… pelvic region.

"Oh yeah, she definitely remembers us," Gajeel said with a conniving grin. "Especially you, Stripper. Who could forget kicking someone in the balls?"

Gray shot him a deadly look while Lucy raised her hands to cover her face, squeaking out an "I'm sorry!"

Gray patted her on the shoulder awkwardly, "It's okay… the pain is… mostly gone now."

She felt the mattress move ever so slightly underneath her and she turned to see the small black cat standing there holding a glass of water with a smile. "I brought you some water. My name is Pantherlily by the way, though most people just call me Lily."

"Nice to meet you and thank you," Lucy returned the smile, taking the glass from him.

"Hmph," She looked up to see the metal studded man watching their exchange. "I'm gonna go grab Salamander. He'll be happy to hear you're awake." He gestured to Lily who hopped off the bed and strolled out of the room after him.

Lucy turned to Gray, eyes wide in alarm, "Who is Salamander?"

Gray chuckled and plucked the empty glass from her hand, setting it back on the bedside table. "Just a dumb nickname Natsu has in the wizarding community."

 _Oh, Natsu._ Lucy sagged forward in relief. She wasn't in the mood for any more introductions at the moment. Plus, she wanted to tell Natsu and Mira about her vision. Perhaps they could help.

"So what happened to you?" Gray asked, leaning forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "Natsu said one minute you were standing there chatting with them, then the next you completely spaced out. No one could get your attention. Then apparently after a minute or two you just passed out."

Lucy flushed, trying her best not to cringe at how that must have looked to the others. What an impression she was making on these people; on the run through the woods to escape an evil step-mother, tossed in a prison cell and now passing out in their guildhall.

Lucy glanced at the door, "I should probably wait until Natsu gets here. I'm sure he'll want to hear it as well."

Gray nodded, "Makes sense. So I heard you're a wizard. What type of magic do you use?"

"I actually have no idea," she shrugged sheepishly. "Erza and Natsu were trying to help me figure it out but we haven't had much luck so far." Granted, it had only been maybe half a day since her first meeting with Natsu; she couldn't expect them to figure it out that quickly.

"A wizard who doesn't know what kind of power she wields," he mused, tapping his chin thoughtfully. "That's a new one."

Lucy frowned. "That doesn't happen often?"

He shook his head, "Not around here. It's usually pretty obvious," he explained when he noted the puzzled look on Lucy's face. "Like when I first discovered my ice magic, I kept accidentally freezing everything–"

"You use ice magic? That's so neat!" She blurted without thinking. So far Gray had been the only one to actually tell her what type of magic he used so it was hard to contain her excitement. "What can you do with it?"

Gray gawked at her with wide eyes and rosy cheeks. Clearly he wasn't used to receiving compliments for his magic. Not that she was surprised; with the way the world currently was, possessing magic was simply a death sentence. Wizards were locked up or murdered for their uncanny abilities, not praised; though Lucy had never seen it that way.

"Uh, well I practice two types of ice magic actually. The first one is Ice-Make Magic. It's a form of molding magic, allowing the user to create ice at will and shape it into objects." He demonstrated by holding out a hand, palm facing upwards. He whispered something under his breath and a beautiful single rose appeared made entirely of ice appeared in his palm.

"Wow." Lucy gazed at the object in awe before picking it up and examining it. She couldn't help but snicker as she thought of something. "Is this how you pick up girls?" She teased, laughing when his cheeks regained their rosy hue.

"What? N-no! Why would I–I don't even–We _just_ met. I am _not_ picking you up!" He sputtered, crossing his arms as a scowl mapped itself across his face.

Lucy laughed even harder when she saw the look on his face. She knew Gray wasn't trying to hit on her or anything, but his flustered reaction was totally worth asking the question.

"I–I'm sorry," she said through her giggles, trying her best to pull herself together. "I–it's actually a l–lovely gesture. I just c–couldn't help myself." She cleared her throat once her laughter subsided and looked up at the ice mage. His expression had softened considerably at her words.

"Eh, don't worry about it. You just surprised me because I'm not one of those guys that go around hitting on anything that moves. Nor am I big on romantic gestures." He paused before mumbling to himself, "I just thought girls liked flowers…"

Lucy giggled, "We do. It's really nice. You're definitely a master of your craft." She added smiling as his cheeks warmed up again at the compliment.

She felt a sudden tug of sadness in her gut as she thought about what it must've been like growing up with such an amazing ability and not being able to share it; how scary it must've been for Gray as a child, or any child wizard for that matter, to fear for their life because of something they had no control over – something they were born with.

"I think I know what you're thinking," Gray's voice cut through her thoughts. "And you don't have to worry about me. I had great parents–both mages by the way–and a great mentor who helped me to master my magic after they had passed. Not all non-magic folk hate us. We still have some allies out in this world. It sucks having to hide away from everything and everyone but we can't sit around crying over it can we?" He shot her a grin which she returned. "We have to keep moving forward."

Lucy nodded, impressed by his attitude. She was glad that there were other wizards out there who could seek refuge in guilds if they needed it. If the other guilds were anything like Fairy Tail then they were lucky indeed.

"Oh, I almost forgot. What is the second type of ice magic you use?"

"Ice Devil Slayer Magic," Gray answered, chuckling at the mystified look on Lucy's face. "It's basically a form of demon slaying magic, using ice. It allows me to produce and manipulate ice, and even consume it to gain power. It also makes me immune to ice based magic attacks. My father passed it on to me before he died a few years back." He explained, relaxing back into his original position again. "It's incredibly powerful but difficult to master. I still haven't mastered it completely yet."

"I've been waiting for you to admit that, Stripper."

The two turned to see Natsu standing a few feet away with a shit-eating grin on his face. Gray rolled his eyes, "You haven't mastered your power either yet you jackass."

"More than you have Ice Princess." He retorted with a sneer.

"Now, now, boys, don't make me separate the two of you." Mira entered the room with a sunny smile, carrying the same leather bound book she had been showing Lucy earlier. Despite her cheery demeanor, there was a slight edge to her voice that had Lucy wondering what exactly she was capable of. Whatever it was seemed to be enough to scare the two boys into submission.

"How are you feeling Lucy?" She asked brightly, the slight edge no longer present in her voice.

"Much better, thanks Mira." Lucy answered with a small smile. "I'm sorry about passing out on you guys. I didn't mean to trouble you."

"There's no need to apologize," Natsu said seating himself on the edge of her cot, next to her feet. The moment he sat down, the air around her legs began to warm up. Was that his magic? "We're just glad you're okay."

"Do you mind telling us what happened back there Lucy?" Mira asked gently. "Perhaps we can help?"

Lucy nodded and told them everything she could remember, from the splitting headache as the vision started, to the end as everything melted into blackness. She did her best not to leave out any details.

When she finished, she watched the three mages as they processed what she'd said. Mira looked thoughtful, while Gray and Natsu looked sufficiently stunned.

Natsu was the first to speak. "P–Porlyusica knew your mom?"

"Which means your mom was–"

"–a mage, yes." Lucy finished for Gray. She had come to that conclusion the moment she heard her mother mention a potion in the vision. It made sense after all; if her grandmother was a mage, she must have passed down her powers to her daughter, who then passed them to Lucy.

The blonde gritted her teeth. While she understood her mother's intentions, she couldn't help the immense frustration she felt towards her mother and grandmother for not giving her a single clue as to what her power may be. Sure, she can emit a strange golden light when her emotions are high but what good is that in the heat of battle? Now that Lucy knew she was a mage, her lack of memories and information was more likely to put her in danger than keep her out of it.

"Lucy what was your mother's name?" Mira asked. Her fingers were clenched tightly around the book she held, an action that didn't go unnoticed by the blonde.

"Layla… Layla Heartfilia."

None of the three mages before her seemed to recognize the name and if they did, they didn't show it. They all wore the same blank expression.

Natsu turned to Mira. "Can you go find Gramps and tell him everything you heard just now? And don't forget to mention Lucy's mom, I bet he'll know who she is."

Mira nodded and left without another word.

"And Gray, I need you to go see Porlyusica. Clearly she was tampering with Lucy's memories at the request of her mother. Seeing as one of her memories have slipped through the cracks, I'm sure there will be more to follow. She may have a way to speed up the process."

Gray grimaced. "Why do I have to go visit the old witch? She hates humans."

"Oh relax, it's not like you're gonna get kicked in the balls twice in one day." Natsu snickered, earning him a scowl from the ice mage.

Before Gray could retort, Natsu spoke again. "But in all seriousness, I'm sure she'll be more surprised than angry when she finds out Lucy is with us. C'mon man, if not for me, do it for Lucy."

"Argh fine," Gray stood up with another scowl plastered on his face. "But if I die at the hands of the old hag, I'm haunting the two of you for all eternity."

"Yeah, yeah, we're real scared." Natsu scoffed waving off the threat. "Just go."

Gray nodded reluctantly and left, muttering curses on his way out the door.

Lucy giggled. "You guys sound like siblings."

Natsu grinned sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. "Well we practically grew up together so I guess that's bound to happen."

"You did? Were you born here?"

"No, none of us were. Well except for little Asuka; she's the first to be born in the guild." He added with a soft smile. "Most of us are orphans and we came from pretty rough upbringings. Gramps brought us in and protected us. And with the help of Mavis, Fairy Tail was created."

Lucy blinked, trying to process all of the information being flung at her. "Wait, who are Gramps and Mavis?"

"Gramps is our Master and founder, also known as Makarov Dreyar. He's a crazy powerful wizard and he basically handles all the politics and wizarding relations in the guild. His grandson, Laxus, is in the guild as well. He's Mira's fiancé." Natsu explained.

Lucy's eyes widened in recognition as she heard the two names; Makarov and Laxus, both of whom Natsu had mentioned being on the King's List. And Mira was engaged to the younger one? Lucy couldn't imagine having a fiancé with a price on his head. She would never get a wink of sleep.

"And Mavis is Mavis Vermillion; the other founder of Fairy Tail. She's much younger than Makarov though. Her story is… complicated." Natsu said, scrunching his eyebrows together. "I think its best I leave it for another time."

Ignoring Lucy's whine of protest, the pink haired mage hopped off the bed and turned to her with a big megawatt grin. "How about I show you to your new room instead?"

* * *

Lucy's desire to see the place she'd be living won out in the end. She also felt a little weird about prying any further. Mavis' past was clearly a sensitive topic and if Natsu decided now wasn't the right time for her to hear it, she'd just have to trust him.

"So Natsu," Lucy started conversationally as they climbed the stairs to the next floor. "What's your power?"

Though her peripheral vision, she noticed the pink haired mage stiffen ever so slightly. She turned to get a better look at him expecting him to be angry, but instead he wore an apologetic grin on his face.

"Sorry Lucy, I'm afraid I can't tell you much until you've figured out your own power. Not that I don't trust ya," He added quickly at the crestfallen expression on her face. "It's just for safety purposes. It's best that you know as little as possible about us until we know you're able to protect yourself. If something happened and you were kidnapped with all that information… well it wouldn't be pretty for you or for us… depending on who kidnapped ya." He grimaced.

"Has that happened before?" Lucy asked softly, noticing his expression. "Was someone kidnapped?"

"Yeah," Natsu gave a solemn nod as they stepped into the third floor corridor. "Her name was Mickey. Three years ago we found her in the East Forest on the run from a group of hunters. She was a mage but she preferred hand-to-hand combat over the use of magic. One day we were ambushed by a really large group of hunters on a mission and they managed to kidnap her."

"And they got information from her?"

"No," Natsu shook his head with a frown. "She stayed loyal to Fairy Tail until the very end."

 _Until the very end._ The words sent shivers down Lucy's spine.

"S–she died?"

Natsu nodded. "Mickey's body couldn't handle the torture. It didn't help that she wasn't a powerful mage by any means, so they didn't see much use in keeping her alive.

"They were also pretty pissed off because they knew she was lying. They somehow used a lie detecting lacrima to figure it out. No idea where they got a hold of one of those…" He added with a scowl as his fists curled up. "Those guys were some of the worst hunters we've encountered yet. After we defeated them we went to their den to retrieve Mickey and see if we could find any survivors. There were hundreds of wizards there–we only found one of them alive."

Lucy gulped. "And I'm guessing it wasn't Mickey?"

"No… Mira contacted us via communication lacrima before we reached the den to tell us her fingerprint had gone black. We knew she was dead before we got there but we couldn't just leave her body, she deserved a proper burial at the guild. That's why I believe Lisanna is still alive out there." He added with a flicker of hope in his onyx eyes. "The blood magic in those fingerprints has never failed us before. I'm not sure why they've kept her alive for this long–I mean she's got a pretty cool power, I just can't see how the King would make use of it…I'm grateful they have though. Hopefully we'll find her soon."

"I'm sure you will." Lucy said gently. They rounded another corner in the large corridor until Natsu finally came to a stop in front of a large wooden door. Lucy's name was carved into it in neat rounded letters.

"Wow," She exclaimed, admiring the door.

Natsu grinned, "That would be Laki's handiwork. She practices Wood-make magic."

"Just like Gray." Lucy smiled at the thought.

Natsu frowned. "Yeah… he shouldn't have told you about his magic though. I told you Mickey's story for a reason. The more you know the more at risk you are; especially when you don't have powerful magic to protect you." Natsu grabbed a small silver key from his pocket and proceeded to unlock the door. "Laki is okay because her magic is fairly common and she spends most of her time in the guild helping with building projects. Gray is not on the list but he's definitely powerful enough to earn himself a place if he's not careful. Just keep that in mind, okay?"

Lucy nodded as he opened the door and stepped inside the room. "Now enough with the serious talk, come check out your new digs Lucy!"

The blonde giggled, following him into her new room.

It was much nicer than she thought it would be. The walls were a rich cream colour while the floor was made up of a darker wood that complemented the light coloured walls quite nicely. The furniture was simple, made up of the same dark wood as the floor. Lucy guessed it was from some type of walnut tree though she wasn't entirely certain. There was a large queen sized bed off to the side with cream coloured bedding that matched the walls and a dresser that matched the beds dark wooden frame. Across the room was a large bay window with a nice long window seat. The long bench was adorned with colourful plush velvet cushions which stood out in the rather plain room.

As they ventured further into the room Lucy let out a gasp of delight. Next to the window was a large wooden desk–perfect for writing–and an equally large wooden bookshelf. Reading and writing were the two things that kept her sane in this chaotic world. She wouldn't give them up for anything.

Natsu chuckled at the blonde's reaction. "I take it you like books?"

Lucy nodded eagerly. "I love reading; adventure and romance books are my favourite. I also dabble in writing. I'd love to pen a best-selling adventure romance novel one day." She said wistfully, running a fingertip along the smooth wooden surface of the desk.

"That's cool." Natsu said with a wide grin. "Can't wait to read it!"

Lucy flushed a bit at his enthusiasm but the pink haired mage didn't notice as he strolled across the room to another door.

"This," He gestured to the door. "is your bathroom. And over there," He pointed towards a small kitchenette with a fridge, oven, stove and sink. "is your kitchen area."

It was like a studio apartment. There was even a small couch to the right of the bookshelf and a small dining table with 4 chairs a few feet away from the kitchenette.

The colouring was a little bland but other than that it was perfect.

"This is amazing. Thank you Natsu." Lucy beamed at the boy.

"No problem Lucy, I'm glad you like it." He grinned. "I think you forgot something important though." He gestured to the bed where Lucy's bag was sitting.

"My bag!" She exclaimed, rushing over to it. "Has it been here the whole time?"

He nodded. _Huh,_ Lucy thought. _How did I not notice it sitting here this entire time?_

She opened it and checked to see if anything was missing. Thankfully everything was still there.

Clearly Natsu _had_ just been trying to scare her. She was glad. It looked like she could really trust him after all. Now if only she could get him to open up a little bit more…

She eyed the pink haired mage, who was currently looking out the large bay window.

"Say Natsu?" She called to him.

He turned to her with a questioning look.

"Is there _anything_ you can tell me about yourself?" She asked, cursing inwardly at how desperate she sounded. Why did she care so much anyway? _Just let the guy stay a mystery,_ she thought. _Why does it matter?_

He regarded her with a look of amusement. "Probably. Do you have a question in mind?"

She nodded. "I have a few actually."

"Alright, well fire away. If I can't answer one I'll just let you know." He said planting himself down on the window bench. He patted the spot next to him, indicating for her to join him.

"Okay." She said, sitting down next to him. "I'll start with a simple one. What's your favourite colour?"

Natsu laughed. "That is pretty simple. My favourite colour is red. What about yours?"

"Pink," Lucy answered. "But this is my time to ask the questions."

Natsu laughed again, giving her a mock salute. "Aye sir."

"Okay, what's your favourite animal?"

"Dragon." He answered almost immediately.

Lucy blinked. "But dragons aren't real?"

Natsu frowned. "Of course they are. I would know; I was raised by one."

Lucy stared at the boy for what felt like an eternity, trying to absorb what he had just said.

 _Raised by a dragon? There's no way. This guy is totally crazy. Dragon's do not exist in this world,_ she thought with a frown. But then why would Natsu say something like that? He didn't exactly strike her as the crazy type. And his guildmates trusted him enough to put him in a leadership role.

"What?" Was all she could manage to get out, blinking owlishly at the pink haired boy.

Natsu shook his head, "I probably shouldn't have said that. Just forget it."

Lucy growled in frustration. She was getting nowhere with this guy! Somehow she was left with more questions than when she started. Still, she didn't want to upset him so she tried to think of another question.

"Okay, I've got another one. Who exactly is the leader around here? At first I thought it was you, but then you mentioned Makarov and this Mavis person. So who is it?"

Natsu grinned. "It's sorta split up around here. Makarov runs the whole joint, but he mostly handles relations with other guilds and stuff related to the king–political stuff. His grandson Laxus used to have my job but he's now working under Gramps so he can take over one day. Makarov is powerful but he's also getting old so leadership has been split up a bit to keep him from getting overworked." Natsu explained. "I have a few things I'm in charge of. I basically run our 'bandit' group and it comes with a few jobs. One of them is running thieving and rescue missions; though we still go through Mira for approval on certain ones. Another is training; I train new recruits and prepare anyone who wants to go on missions with my group. The last one is my biggest job; it has yet to be completed but I hope to achieve it one day…" He trailed off looking uncertain for a moment.

"What is it?" Lucy couldn't help but press, incredibly curious.

"My main objective in all of this is to put the rightful heir back on the throne of Fiore." He said finally. "After we figure out where Lisanna is and rescue her that will become my main focus."

"And who is the rightful heir?"

Natsu grinned. "You'll find out soon enough."

Lucy groaned. Just as she thought they were _finally_ getting somewhere he goes and says that.

"Any other questions?" Natsu asked with a sly grin.

Lucy thought for a moment before remembering something from their earlier conversation.

"I do actually," she answered. "Who was the sole survivor of that hunter's den?"

"Oh yeah, I never told you did I?" Natsu mused. "It was Gajeel."

"Gajeel?!" Lucy couldn't picture the large, gruff, pierced man letting anybody get away with torturing him.

"Yeah," Natsu nodded. "He was alive but just barely. He's a tough guy but he's also got pretty powerful magic. I'm certain it's the reason he was still alive when we found him."

"What ever happened to the hunters from that den?"

Natsu scowled. "I burnt them all to a crisp." Lucy shivered at his tone. He spoke with zero remorse. Not that she could really blame him. Those guys had killed hundreds of wizards. Letting them live meant they could go out and do the same thing all over again. Plus, they would tell the king there were groups of magical bandits running around and that could mean the end for Fairy Tail. It was too risky to allow them to live.

Wait a second.

 _I burnt them all to a crisp._

"You use fire magic!" Lucy pointed an accusatory finger at the pink haired mage who bit his lip and muttered a curse under his breath.

"Something like that…" He grumbled, glaring at the blonde. "Damn it, why do I keep accidentally revealing stuff to you?!"

Lucy giggled. "My maid, Coco, always said I was easy to talk to; like an older sister." She said proudly, smiling warmly at the memory of her maid. She missed her a lot. Hopefully she was okay...

Natsu regarded her thoughtfully. "Eh, I wouldn't say you're like a sister–seems kinda weird to say that for some reason–but I agree that you are pretty easy to open up to."

For some reason Lucy felt a fluttery warmth in her chest at Natsu's words. He might've only said it because they barely knew each other but nonetheless she was still oddly glad he didn't see her in that way.

"Why do you look all weird right now?" Natsu said eyeing her suspiciously.

Lucy huffed indignantly. She wasn't weird! But before she could retort the door to her room burst open and a ball of blue fur came flying into the room at high speed before crashing into the pink haired boy's arms.

"Natsu!" It cried, looking up with big round eyes at the boy. Lucy recognized it as another Exceed. It was blue with white wings and a small green backpack on its back.

"Hey little buddy," Natsu greeted the small cat-like creature with a wide grin. "Why the big hurry?"

The Exceed attempted to catch its breath as it spoke. "Er–Erza s–sent me to–to tell you that M–Master and P–Porlyusica left for P–Pergrande just over an hour ago."

"Damn," Natsu frowned. "I was hoping for some answers. Do you know when they'll be back?"

"Erza said two weeks."

"Huh, well I guess I'll just have to find some other stuff for Lucy to do in the meantime. Maybe some weapons training…" He mused. Then, remembering who he was with, he turned back to the blonde. "By the way Lucy, this is Happy, my best friend and Exceed. Happy, this is our newest member Lucy!"

Lucy smiled and greeted the Exceed who greeted back with a "Nice to meet ya!" before turning to his owner with a sly grin whispering, "I didn't know you liked blondes Natsu."

Lucy's face burned bright red while Natsu fixed the cat with a blank stare. "The hell are you talking about?"

 _Thank god he's dense._ Lucy thought with relief as she fanned her face in an attempt to get it to return to its normal colour. Happy noticed her and let out a low snicker.

"Anyway, since Gramps won't be back for a while I think it would be best to start you on some physical training; y'know, whip you into shape and what not so you can defend yourself in case something were to happen." Natsu grinned at the blonde.

The idea of Natsu whipping her into shape was not appealing in the slightest. He was several inches taller than her and definitely stronger than her.

"Can't Erza train me?" Lucy asked, thinking perhaps being trained by another female would be much less frightening.

Both Natsu and Happy balked at the question. "That monster?!" The blue exceed exclaimed. "Not if you value your life."

Lucy blinked. "But she seems so nice… and she's–"

"What, a girl?" Natsu raised a brow. "This is Fairy Tail Lucy; it ain't like those high society families you were surrounded by growing up. The girls here fight just like the boys do and aren't afraid to get their hands dirty. Don't underestimate Erza; she's easily one of the most powerful female wizards in the country and she's saved my sorry butt more times than I can count. Anyway, you can't train with Erza. She's not allowed to train newbies." He added with a grimace.

Lucy frowned. "Why not?"

"She's really…"

"Intense." Happy finished for him. "Trust me Lucy, there's a reason Natsu is in charge of training and Erza is not."

"Well alright." Lucy said, wondering just how scary Erza could be. She hoped she'd never have to find out.

As they walked towards the door leading out of Lucy's room, the blonde's stomach let out a loud, rather obnoxious, growl.

Natsu laughed. "Maybe we should get you some dinner first?"

Lucy smiled. "Dinner would be great."

* * *

 **A/N:**

 _ **THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to the lovely reviewers from last time: Guest, KarinStalker24, An Amber Pen, schmad20, Katiebug73x, habash and FireShifter. Each and every one of your reviews honestly put the BIGGEST smile on my face. I love getting them, they honestly mean the world to me. I'm so cheesy but I don't care. THANK YOU :)**_

 **FUN FACT: (If you're not a hardcore FT fan, you may not know this) Mickey is a real character in the canon series. Just a very MINOR one. More of a background character if anything. She seems to disappear after the 7 year gap.**

 **Next chapter will have a small time skip to get things moving. There's also a couple of scenes planned that you NaLu lovers will definitely appreciate. More blanks will be filled in but you may also be left with more questions.**

 **THANKS FOR READING. Leave a review and tell me what you thought! I'm curious to see if anyone knows who the rightful heir to the throne is?**


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